170 



William H. Dillingham's Address. 



Vol. Xli. 



hall of justice, identical with the history, 

 transmission, and partition of every estate 

 in this courvty for the last sixty years, and 

 with the present title to each particular spot 

 where these flowers and frnits were grown, 

 is soon to pass away. It was well to deco- 

 rate it thus before the final sacrifice. Al- 

 ready its elegant and classic neighbotir 

 seems impatient of its humbler presence, 

 whose interesting memories it cannot sup- 



In reviewing the history of this time-hon- 

 oured hall, how arc we reminded of the con- 

 trast between those warlike demonstrations 

 from ancient upland, which threatened, with 

 artillery, to batter down these rising walls, 

 and the peaceful decorations, redolent of| 

 beauty and harmony, which grace its exit. 

 'These flowers and fruits, methinks, are 

 kindly tokens which mother earth sends up 

 to bid the Old Court House good bye. 



As Chester county led the van m the set- 

 tlement and culture of Penn's woods, so 

 should it still be the banner county in agri- 

 culture and horticulture. It possesses the 

 elements for this distinction in the virtue, 

 industry, intelligence, and thrift of its popu- 

 lation, and in the fertility of its soil, its ge- 

 nial climate, its varied surface, its beautiful 

 streams, its abounding springs, its rich, indi- 

 genous Flora — and in the good fortune to 

 have produced a son, the pride and pleasure 

 of whose life it is, to develop the history, 

 character, and properties, the beauties and 

 the uses of the vegetable world. Permit 

 me to add to these commanding advantages, 

 your vicinity to and daily improving facili- 

 ties of intercourse with our great metropolis, 

 justly famed for its devotion to science, and 

 particularly to the study of the natural sci- 

 ences. Her scliools and her collections in 

 these departments are scarcely rivalled on 

 this continent, and they are all within your 

 reach. You have already set an exampla 

 worthy of imitation by every other county 

 in the state, in your own Collections of Na- 

 tural History. They evince a taste and spi- 

 rit worthy of all commendation. 



As Pennsylvania was the first to establish 

 an Agricultural Society, so she was the first 

 State of this Union to establish a Horticul- 

 tural Society: still earlier she made an at- 

 tempt at a botanic garden. It is now near 

 an hundred years since Bartram began his 

 enterprise on the Schuylkill, and its glory 

 has not yet departed. You have still the 

 evidence before you of what Humphrey 

 Marshall attempted, soon after, in this vi- 

 • cinity. 



Botany, an essential element of Horticul- 

 ture, has still higher claims upon you: the 

 first cultivators of the ancient county of 



Chester were countrymen of the immortal 

 Linna?us, the great discoverer of that secret, 

 whereby the whole vegetable kingdom was 

 first reduced to system through all its varie- 

 ties, from the trees of the forest to the moss. 

 The Swedes were the true pioneers in 

 this cultivation, now our pride and boast. 

 Within a century after the hardy sons of 

 the North set foot upon this soil, and with 

 stout heart and strong arm assailed the giant 

 forests, their illustrious countryman possess- 

 ed himself of his master key. 



Within a few years Horticultural Socie- 

 ties have given it an impulse in all its de- 

 partments unknown before. It is not fifty 

 years since the Horticultural Society of 

 London was founded. The labours of this 

 Society have produced results truly wonder- 

 ful. The example has been followed, and 

 similar Societies have multiplied both in 

 Europe and in this country. That of Paris, 

 established in 1826, lias been patronized by 

 the court, by the nobility, and very gene- 

 rally by their distinguished men. The Jar- 

 din du Plants, at Paris, is regarded as the 

 best establishment of the kind in the world, 

 and includes what may be called a school 

 for horticulture. 



These are, perhaps, the main sources of 

 that impulse which has been given to this 

 pursuit throughout Europe. Horticultural 

 societies are now universal, and rapid pro- 

 gress has been made here as well as there, 

 within the last thirty years. Nothing is 

 more obvious to those in the habit of resort- 

 ing to our own' markets, than the improve- 

 ments in esculent vegetables and fruits, 

 within this period, both in variety and qual- 

 ity. Still greater advances have been made 

 in the general diffusion of a taste for plants 

 and flowers. The florists constitute now an 

 important class in our large towns, and some 

 of their establishments are truly magnificent. 

 The Greenhouse, the Hothouse, and the 

 Conservatory, are regarded as among the 

 most refined and elegant indul|fences of 

 men of wealth and taste, and very gene- 

 rally introduced. Many of our most distin- 

 guished men, in the various professions and 

 in the higher walks of life, took an active 

 part in the formation of the Pennsylvania 

 Society, gave great attention to it for years, 

 and still help sustain it. It has always been 

 a special favourite with the fair sex, whose 

 tastes and habits are so' congenial to the 

 beautiful flowers, and their virtues so well 

 reflected in them. The monthly exhibitions 

 furnish opportunities for pleasant re-unions 

 to those who do not indulge in the gaieties 

 of dissipation, and are uniformly character- 

 ized by pervading cheerfulness and innocent 

 enjoyment. It is impossible to be selfish or 



